Kit Harington, Emmy Nominee

Kit Harington scored his first Emmy nomination this year, for the “Battle of the Bastards” episode of Game of Thrones, and so he’s doing some campaigning, including talking to The Hollywood Reporter about his nomination and the way Jon Snow changed in season six. First, Harington’s Emmy campaign seems very low key, but that might just be because he isn’t everywhere all over the world like Tom Hiddleston, A #1 Emmy Campaigner. And second, did Jon Snow really change that much in season six? Even Harington sounds a little disappointed that Jon Snow came back from the dead pretty much the same.

The biggest change in Jon Snow is that he finally quit the f*cking Night’s Watch and left the garbage Wall. At most, you could stretch it to say that Jon Snow was a bit more impatient in general, which is probably because he found out that the afterlife is a total rip-off. As Harington says, “He goes to the other side and there is nothing there.” But there was no real change in Jon Snow, was there? I’m not sure Harington was doing much different, acting-wise, than he’s done in previous seasons, except this time he got to star in one of the biggest and most ambitious hours of television, ever.

But Harington is hitting the right tone as a nominee, coming across as grateful and genuinely moved, and a touch self-deprecating: “It made me very happy. I wept. And that wasn’t at all what I expected. I expected to be a lot cooler about it.”

Well I didn’t. Did you think Kit Harington is cool? He’s not. You know how you can tell he’s not cool? He made a mockumentary with Andy Samberg, and he’s actually really good in it. Kit Harington has a secret comedy streak. People who are good at comedy are NEVER cool. And comedians who think they’re cool are never good at comedy (see also: Dane Cook). Comedy and cool don’t go together. So no, you’re not cool, Kit. But you are kindafunny. Maybe lean into that once Thrones is over.